In Oakland, police struggle to find recruits

Margaret Dixon meets with her Introduction to Criminal Justice class at Merritt College in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. As Oakland struggles to recruit city residents into its police force, the city is starting a new affiliation with Merritt to try to groom future officers who hail from Oakland. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND -- In a city where unemployment is high and officials are desperate to rebuild an understaffed police force, the Oakland Police Department is having a hard time finding applicants from Oakland.

Local recruitment remains abysmally low -- a mere 8 percent of last year's police academy graduates were Oakland residents, far fewer than the number of homegrown trainees graduating from police academies in San Jose and San Francisco.

That's a problem for a beleaguered Police Department that would welcome an influx of native sons and daughters already keyed into Oakland's rhythms and familiar with its culture.

What's more, young Oakland residents don't seem to be all that eager to sign up with any regional law enforcement agency.

Margaret Dixon, right, works with Corey Spears in Dixon's Introduction to Criminal Justice class at Merritt College in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. As Oakland struggles to recruit city residents into its police force, the city is starting a new affiliation with Merritt to try to groom future officers who hail from Oakland. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

Law enforcement experts say that hiring more Oakland residents would help the Police Department win cooperation and build legitimacy, especially in areas where residents often are hesitant to cooperate with officers in solving crimes.

"The more people who know somebody in the Police Department, the more they have a connection to it and the less likely they are to be unfairly judgmental of police operations," said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

From the mayor on down, city officials are working on new programs, including police-oriented charter schools, to persuade young Oakland residents to apply to city police academies and help them pass the entry exams.

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But police recruiters face inherent challenges in Oakland. Residents are less likely to meet hiring requirements, which include a high school diploma and no felony arrests. And they are more likely to have a negative opinion of the Police Department, which remains under unprecedented federal oversight in connection with a 1999 brutality scandal.

Markendra Wilson, an Oakland resident and a student in Margaret Dixon's Introduction to Criminal Justice class at Merritt College, prepares to patrol the campus as a safety aide in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. As Oakland struggles to recruit city residents into its police force, the city is starting a new affiliation with Merritt to try to groom future officers who hail from Oakland. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

When 23-year-old Oakland High School graduate Mandela Castaneda told his cousin that he wanted to be an Oakland police officer, the cousin resisted. "He told me they discriminate," said Castaneda, who is African-American. As for several of his friends, "They said, 'If that's your dream, you should go for it,' but they have negative views of OPD."

Recruiting struggle

Of 75 Oakland police academy graduates last year, only six were city residents. That amounts to 8 percent, which is the same percentage of total sworn officers who live in Oakland. O'Donnell said the figures seemed "startlingly low."

In San Jose and San Francisco, at least 40 percent of graduates from their last three police academies were hometown recruits, according to city figures.

Margaret Dixon works with Anthony Nelson, of Oakland, in Dixon's Introduction to Criminal Justice class at Merritt College in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. As Oakland struggles to recruit city residents into its police force, the city is starting a new affiliation with Merritt to try to groom future officers who hail from Oakland. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

Oakland doesn't just struggle to get its residents onto the force. The Police Department's feeder program, which offers high-school seniors and recent graduates paid on-the-job training, currently has four Oakland residents and 14 out-of-towners.

Mayor Jean Quan said she has asked police to revise the feeder program's entry exam so that it is more relevant to city residents. "Police officer jobs are some of the best paying in the city, and I would like more people in Oakland to have them," she said.

Even if Oakland residents are wary of the Police Department, they don't appear to be flocking to other police agencies. Recent police academies held by San Jose, San Francisco and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office included just 12 Oakland residents among the nearly 450 graduates, records show.

Margaret Dixon, right, talks with students in her Introduction to Criminal Justice class at Merritt College in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. As Oakland struggles to recruit city residents into its police force, the city is starting a new affiliation with Merritt to try to groom future officers who hail from Oakland. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

Oakland's most recent police academy began in December with three city residents among 55 trainees.

The two biggest obstacles to getting more Oakland residents on the city's police force appear to be a lack of candidates and poor scores on the mandatory statewide police academy written entrance exam.

Oakland residents made up just 11 percent of applicants to the last four city police academies, and barely half of them -- 57 percent -- passed the standardized test, compared with 75 percent of nonresidents.

Castaneda, who works two jobs and takes classes at Merritt College, recently failed his first attempt at the written test, which includes a vocabulary section. "There were certain words I've never seen before," he said.

The Police Department does take into account whether applicants are from Oakland when making new hires, but, ultimately, "it's really about who is most qualified," assistant chief Paul Figueroa said. State law precludes residency requirements, and the city requires only that the department meet goals for foreign language fluency. Nearly half the academy graduates last year spoke a language other than English.

Local pipeline

Police are stepping up local recruitment by enlisting community leaders to seek out candidates and holding exam workshops throughout the city.

But the most ambitious initiative, which is being undertaken with Quan and school officials, aims to develop a pipeline of Oakland students into the police force.

Next month, the City Council is expected to approve an agreement with Merritt College's Administration of Justice program to preselect students interested in becoming Oakland officers. The program will provide direct interaction with city police officers and give students extra support, including help maintaining good credit and avoiding social media posts that could harm their candidacies.

"It's more than passing the test," said Margaret Dixon, a retired Oakland police officer who teaches at Merritt. "We want to support them once they get into the academy, and we want them to truly understand what they are getting into."

Officials also are working to set up special programs at two small high schools where students would learn about law enforcement issues and work daily with police officers.

"We really think that getting connected with high school-aged students and getting them into college would really help them be successful in the police academy," said Figueroa, himself an Oakland native.

While stressing that many out-of-town officers are quick to build ties to Oakland, Figueroa said that growing up in the city has made him a better officer.

"I still get calls from people in the community who have known me for years," he said. "There is that trust that is built through years of relationships."

Castaneda, whose high school football coach and mentor was an Oakland police officer, said he also would enter the force with strong ties to the city he loves.

"I want to help people, and my community is one of the places that needs help the most," he said. "Having grown up in Oakland, just playing that role as a police officer would really mean a lot."